Primal Chorus of the Sacred Wood

The book explores the primeval beginnings of rhythm, dance, music, language and culture represented in The Waste Land, and how that informs modernity. These essays support the themes of the first book, A Modern Eve, travelling further into the distant past of humanity to show how Eliot represents the dawn of human culture and spirituality.

Reviews

Professorial remarks on the thesis that inspired these books. "The thesis is an example of very focused and skilled scholarship ... The argument is well-conceived and focused and the poised and attentive reading of The Waste Land is substantiated by salient detail from the poem, Eliot's other works and criticism, and a very lucid and germane set of intellectual, philosophical and theological touchstones ... it undertakes a kind of critical detective work that compellingly and convincingly illuminates key aspects of the poem ... it offers a shrewd and informed appraisal of the creative tensions found in Eliot's response to Nietzsche ... there is instructive use made of Joyce here ... This is an excellent piece of scholarship: lively, subtle, illuminating and rigorous".